Committee Chair

Schorr, Mark

Department

Dept. of Biology, Geology, and Environmental Science

College

College of Arts and Sciences

Publisher

University of Tennessee at Chattanooga

Place of Publication

Chattanooga (Tenn.)

Abstract

The present study examined relationships of landscape features with instream environmental conditions and fish assemblage attributes in a third-order Ridge and Valley stream in the Chattanooga, Tennessee area. Stream water quality, habitat, and fish assemblages were sampled in May-June 2005 at seven sites (drainage areas <17 km2) in the Mountain Creek system (Tennessee River drainage). Watershed urban land use (predominantly residential) ranged from 1.62 % to 18.97 % and housing density from 49 housing units/km2 to 72 housing units/km2. Natural riparian land cover at the sites ranged from 26.9 % to 53.1 %. A total of22 species offish and 3,686 individuals was found at the seven sites. Native species richness per drainage area ranged from 0.12 species/km2 to 1.15 species/km2 at the individual sites. Species evenness ranged from 0.56 to 0.79. Index of biotic integrity ratings varied from poor to good. Watershed urban land use was negatively correlated with species richness, species evenness, variation in stream shape, and variation in current velocity. Housing density in the watershed was positively correlated with sediment depth and negatively correlated with species richness, substrate diversity, and variation in stream shape. Riparian natural cover was positively correlated with variation in current velocity. Results of this study emphasize the negative influence of watershed residential land use on stream habitat heterogeneity and native fish diversity.

Acknowledgments

I would like to thank Stacy Baltimore, Stephanie Dyer, Jeannie Long, Matt Price, Wanda Story, and Amber Williams for their invaluable assistance with the field work. I would like to thank Eric Wolf for his time and effort enabling us to utilize Geographical Information System (GIS) applications and Kite Aerial Photography in this study. Gary Litchford provided use of his lab and expertise in GIS. Evan Crews, Wayne Poppe, and others at TV A provided data on watershed land use and land cover. I would like to thank Dr. Schorr for his commitment and guidance throughout the research process. I would also like to thank Dr. Richards and Dr. Abom for serving on my committee.

Degree

M. S.; A thesis submitted to the faculty of the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the degree of Master of Science.

Date

8-2006

Subject

Fish populations--Tennessee--Chattanooga; Urban watersheds; Fishes--Habitat

Discipline

Environmental Indicators and Impact Assessment

Document Type

Masters theses

DCMI Type

Text

Extent

vii, 47 leaves

Language

English

Call Number

LB2369.2 .C664 2006

Rights

http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/

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